Percy and the Lime Green Hat
by Tabby Kitten
Summary: In the wake of Fudge's resignation, Percy reflects on the past and his future.


Minister Cornelius Fudge had resigned last week in a wave of scandal surrounding Lord Voldemort's return. No one could deny it now; Fudge had seen him with his own eyes, and worse, Percy had been standing right behind him when it happened. Now he'd been tasked with cleaning out what remained in Fudge's office.

It felt wrong to be taking everything out of Fudge's office. This was the room Fudge had worked in for the last seven years, where he'd signed laws, written speeches, and governed the British wizarding world. Percy had even seen the minister eating muggle takeaway noodles in here once. He'd had important documents in here, but also personal items and family photos. Now it passed out of his possession and would become Rufus Scrimgeour's place of work, and once Percy was done, there would be no sign Fudge had ever used this room.

Percy lifted a box of papers and found something squashed underneath. He realized it was one of Fudge's signature lime green bowlers and carefully straightened it out. He'd long dreamed of wearing a bowler hat like this when he finally joined the ministry, but had held off because one couldn't really pull off a bowler hat so young. The lime green hat had meant safety and security, had meant job connections and promotions, had been the end of the ladder Percy hoped to ascend in life. It wasn't really right for these times, was it, Percy thought as he spun it on the end of his finger. Now that Voldemort was back everyone was in somber colors, and there wouldn't be occasions for lime green hats anymore.

Fudge really was gone. Now Percy sat in an empty office holding one of the man's precious hats in his freckled hands. Fudge was a man whom Percy had looked up to for ages, a man whose biography Percy had read and hoped that one day his own might mirror it. But now all of that was over, drowned in scandal and outrage. Percy spun the hat, thinking now that it looked more like poisonous green than lime green, like the acid pop that had burnt a hole through Ron's tongue, and that perhaps its color had spoiled like its owner's career.

And like his own career. Percy didn't want to admit it, but he knew deep down that the pages of his own story might be marred with scandal, with scorn and selfishness and deep desire for power. He'd made a mistake, he'd put his faith in a government that had failed its people. Fudge had been wrong. But Dumbledore was wrong too, wasn't he? They had caught him forming an army against the ministry, training students in dangerous magic. But that would have been right, given that Fudge wasn't about to take action on the situation. There had been occasion for Dumbledore's Army to fight. Percy hadn't seen any of them, but he'd heard that Ron was injured yet again, this time by magic brains. When would Ron realize that his relationship with Harry Potter and Dumbledore was putting him in serious danger? Why did Percy's whole family have to be so bloody thick?

So Fudge had been wrong. But now the ministry was taking action, distributing security leaflets and upping security at Hogwarts to protect students. They weren't perfect, but they were coming back and making amends for their errors. Percy had wondered about his place with a new minister around, but had decided he was going to stick it out and help Scrimgeour keep the wizarding world safe. It was still the right thing to do, he figured, and better than admitting to his family that he'd been wrong about Lord Voldemort. The twins would never let him live that down. No, stay with the ministry, lead by example, and put the past behind him.

A noise in the hallway brought Percy back to the present and he realized he was still sitting on the box of papers, holding Fudge's old hat and not looking at anything in particular. The color of the hat reminded him of his favorite lime sugar quills he used to get at Honeydukes. He straightened up and swiftly put the hat in the box. Perhaps someday there would be an occasion for a ministry official to wear this sweet, saccharine lime color again, perhaps bobbing through sunlit Diagon Alley or seeing students off at platform nine and three quarters. That occasion would not be today nor anytime soon. But maybe—hopefully—someone would get to wear it again.

**A/N**

**House: Hufflepuff**

**Year: 5**

**Drabble **

**Words: 761**

**Prompt: [color] Lime **


End file.
